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METALS LEACHING FROM A MINERAL PROCESSING WASTE: A COLUMN STUDY
Citation:
AL-ABED, S. R. AND D. ALLEN. METALS LEACHING FROM A MINERAL PROCESSING WASTE: A COLUMN STUDY. Presented at 229th American Chemical Society National Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 13 - 17, 2005.
Description:
A mineral processing waste was used to study the effect of liquid to solid ratio (L/S) on the leaching behavior of metals. Leaching tests in the form of column and batch studies were carried out to investigate liquid to solid ratios ranging from 0.7 to 50. Although the waste passed the limits regulated under the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), a high concentration of metals was found to leach by the two leaching tests. The leaching of As, Cu and Zn were all highly dependent on the L/S ratio. Higher concentrations of metals were leached at the lower L/S ratios. The leaching of all three metals was found to stabilize beyond an L/S of about 10. A significant amount of the copper measured by acid digestion leached during the batch test. Copper was found at concentrations as high as 300 mg/l at an L/S ratio of about 1.5 as obtained from the column study.